Australians are bracing for a cold snap to hit this week, with cold and frosty weather on the way for large parts of the southeast.
Maximum temperatures are unlikely to climb above 12C in Hobart for the next three days as a windy front brings snow to central parts of the state as well as Mt Hotham and Falls Creek in Victoria.
“A cold snap is crossing the south-east at the moment bringing snow and icy temperatures,” Sky News Australia Meteorologist Rob Sharpe said.
Melbourne residents are advised to rug up warm and pile on the extra layers, with the city likely to experience some of its coldest weather since last September.
“Across Wednesday and Thursday it is going to remain quite cold day by day,” Mr Sharpe said.
“But after that as conditions calm down it will stay crisp each day, but the nights are going to become much chillier, particularly Saturday morning with a forecast low of 4C.
“Some suburbs of Melbourne will have frost on the ground … on Sunday morning, that is the likely scenario, and it won’t just be Melbourne, it will be widespread through eastern Australia.”
Sydneysiders are also expected to feel the chill with minimum temperatures forecast to sit below 10C for the rest of the week.
Towards the end of the week, frost will become more and more prevalent over more regions as the wind eases back.
Frost is likely to develop in parts of southern and central Queensland, many areas of Victoria and by Sunday even South Australia will get in on the frosty action, Sharpe said.
“So quite a few places looking at the coldest weather they have seen so far this season, particularly in terms of the mornings,” he said.
The ski fields in Victoria are set to benefit from the cold snap after a dismal opening weekend saw only one chair lift operate across the region.
A handful of videos posted online on Tuesday showed Hotham Alpine’s Resort covered in a dusting of snow with temperatures sitting below zero.
“This weekend, it is likely that quite a few of the ski fields will open up properly,” Sharpe said.
“This front is going better than expected for snow which I am sure many snow lovers would be happy to hear.”
The burst of wet, windy and snowy weather is set to calm down later in the week as a high-pressure system moves in.